Various scheduling tools, such as scheduling applications available for use on small hand-held computer devices, for example, are intended to assist users in keeping track of information regarding appointment times, appointment locations, and other information related to the topic and substance of such appointments. The scheduling information might be thought of as being dynamic, since it is often changing day by day or even moment by moment depending on a user's level of appointment activity. Other scheduling tools, such as a bus schedule, for example, provide information that is more consistent from day to day. For example, a bus schedule includes weekday bus routes that remain the same each day during the week. The typical daily schedule might change during heavy and light use periods, such as rush hour and non-rush hour periods. There is also usually a weekend schedule for most bus routes as well. Other than these changes, such schedules can remain relatively unchanged for months or years. Thus, the scheduling information in such schedules might be thought of as being static, as it tends to change very little.
A problem with many active scheduling tools (e.g., applications for use on a hand-held computer device) and passive scheduling tools (e.g., a bus schedule), however, is that they present scheduling information, such as appointment/event locations, times, and other related information in a manner that requires a user to consult two or more information sources in order to determine the desired information from the schedule. For example, with most scheduling applications available for hand-held computer devices, a user can review appointment information as a text list in a calendar view. If a user has a number of appointments throughout the day, the calendar view of the appointment information might list the title, time, and location of the appointments one after another. A user is then required to consult further information sources in order to understand where to be and when to be there to satisfy the scheduled appointments.
For example, the user may have to first consult the calendar view of the information to determine the time and location of an appointment. Then the user might consult a clock or watch to determine the present time. While checking the time the user may need to consult a map by accessing an online map source, for example, such as Yahoo Maps, in order to determine how best to navigate to the upcoming appointment considering the present time and the start time of the appointment. The need to access all of this information while in a hurry to make the scheduled appointment presents a less than desirable scenario for most users.
Other types of schedules, such as bus schedules or other types of mass transit schedules, present similar difficulties. For example, one embodiment of a bus schedule for a single bus route includes a large table of bus departure times organized from left to right and top to bottom according to bus stop locations listed across the top row of the table. A map of the bus route is also illustrated. To determine when the next available bus is departing from a particular bus stop location, a user must check the present time from a clock or watch. Then the user must consult the table of information to determine the operable hours of service for the desired bus route. Assuming the bus route is in service at the time, the user must determine his or her present bus stop location by consulting the illustrated bus route map. Then the user can consult the table of departure times for that bus route to find the next closest time when a bus will be departing from the bus stop. The user needs to find one small number in a sea of numbers within the large table of bus departure times. For users unfamiliar with riding a bus, or using other mass transit services, determining how to utilize the schedules for such services can be a difficult and discouraging experience.
Accordingly, a need exists for a way to access and organize scheduling information for appointments or events in a manner that provides the pertinent information in a single view without requiring the use of as many peripheral information sources.